Seattle -- The crops for sale carry labels like `` dark vader , '' `` uk cheese '' and `` white russian . ''

But the overwhelming smell of cannabis gives away the fact that there is really only one item for sale here : medical marijuana .

There was little publicity for Seattle 's first medical marijuana farmers market held on Sunday . No posters or signs were hung outside the market 's venue , a small club where `` erotic poetry '' readings are held .

Word of mouth alone though packed the hall as hundreds of people lined up to go in . They gained entrance with a recommendation from a health care provider stating that they need marijuana to treat a medical condition .

`` I am actually standing upright because of cannabis , there 's nothing else I found that would help me with chronic pain issues , '' said John Muise , a gaunt figure with long dangling dreadlocks . `` I could n't even explain how my life would be if I did n't have cannabis . I would probably be addicted to opiates and in a wheelchair . ''

Despite the packed crowds and stands full of marijuana , the farmers market operates in a legal gray zone .

`` Medical marijuana is not legal in the state of Washington , '' said state Department of Health spokesman Donn Moyer . A law passed in 1998 allows for what is called the `` medical marijuana defense '' -- that allows for juries to take into account if someone charged with pot possession was taking the drug for health purposes .

Under the current law , certain health care providers like doctors or nurse practitioner can issue the recommendations for medical marijuana for a variety of ailments including cancer , HIV and anorexia .

But unlike in California or Colorado where medical marijuana initiatives led to an explosion of dispensaries that provide the drug , in Washington the medical marijuana community has remained , for the most part , underground .

`` Dispensaries are not legal , co-ops are not legal here , '' Moyer said . `` The intent of the law is that you receive medical marijuana from a designated provider who can only help one patient at one time . Some people are interpreting that as they provide marijuana to someone and then 15 minutes later do it again for another patient . ''

`` It 's a city by city , county by county situation right now , '' said Philip Dawdy , a spokesman for the Sunday market and medical marijuana advocate who says there is still `` an old West '' feel to the medical marijuana community in the state .

In Seattle , however , medical marijuana users have something of safe haven . A 2003 measure officially pegged arresting people for personal use of marijuana as the lowest priority for the city 's police department .

Still fears persist among medical marijuana users . At the market , several attendees asked the handful of news crews present not to take images of them . One couple said they would lose their jobs as teachers if the school where they worked found out they were at the event .

`` This could be construed as dealing drugs , '' medical marijuana grower Ken Bell said as a line of customers grew in front of his `` Ken 's Medicine Bowl '' stand . `` We need the state to clarify the gray areas . ''

Market organizers said they are hopeful that a bill working its way through Washington 's legislature will provide medical marijuana users and growers in the state surer legal footing to operate on .

In the meantime , organizers say they will hold more farmers markets and push for medical marijuana rights -- within limits .

`` We do n't want to be anything like California , '' market spokesman Dawdy said . `` They literally have dispensaries on top of each other in Venice Beach and out in the valley . ''

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Recommendation from a health care provider needed to shop at the farmers market

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The market operates in a legal gray zone in the state of Washington

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Organizers hope a bill in the state legislature will give medical pot users better legal footing